Beijing Blames Dalai Lama
For Violence in Tibet

BEIJING -- China's government lashed out against the Dalai Lama yesterday, saying the Tibetan spiritual leader was behind last week's violent protests in Lhasa and that he was trying to "take advantage of the moment" to extract leverage ahead of the Olympic Games.

Liu Jianchao, China's foreign-ministry spokesman, said the unrest was calculated to "exert more pressure" on China when the nation is highly conscious of its global image ahead of the Games. He told reporters that the Dalai Lama had made a "wrong calculation" and that nothing will stop the government from making the Games a success or force it to offer any concessions on the status of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama has denied that he was behind the protests.

Chinese authorities, Mr. Liu said, went to great pains to exercise restraint during the unrest, after crowds of Tibetans attacked Chinese shops in Lhasa Friday. "No lethal weapon has been used," said Mr. Liu. The government said Tibetan rioters had killed 13 people. A spokesman for the Dalai Lama said Sunday at least 80 people were killed in the protests.

The News: China's government lashed out against the Dalai Lama, saying he was behind protests in Lhasa, a claim the Tibetan leader refutes.

The Pitch: China's foreign-ministry spokesman said nothing will stop Beijing from making the Games a success or force Beijing to offer concessions on the status of Tibet.

On Hold: The statements indicate China is unlikely to return to talks with the Dalai Lama any time soon.

Since Friday, a wave of antigovernment protests has spread from Lhasa to other parts of western China with heavily Tibetan populations. Mr. Liu declined to answer questions about the protests and reports of further casualties there. "The Tibet issue is totally the internal affair of China. We are able to safeguard the peace and security of our people," he said.

Mr. Liu declined to be specific on what the government intends to do with protesters who responded to a deadline of midnight yesterday to turn themselves in.

Last night, there was evidence the unrest was spreading even to Beijing. A group of Tibetan students staged a sit-in at the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

China defends Tibet crackdown and accuses the Dalai Lama for masterminding the riots and sabotaging the Olympics.

Mr. Liu's remarks represent China's first public comments since the outburst of violence Friday. He complained that Chinese embassies and consulates in the U.S. and Europe have been attacked and asked governments around the world to help protect them from Tibetan activists.

"The atrocities of the Tibetan independence forces manifested again the splittist nature of the Dalai clique and the hypocrisy and deceit of its peace and nonviolence propaganda," said Mr. Liu. "We express our condemnation of the Tibetan independence forces."

The briefing came a day after the Dalai Lama accused China of committing "cultural genocide" at a news conference in India. Refuting the accusation, Mr. Liu blamed the Dalai Lama for "trying to fragment Tibet from China" and for misleading the media and the public with "a lot of lies."

The government's latest response is an indication that China is unlikely to return to talks with the Dalai Lama any time soon. The Buddhist leader fled Tibet in 1959 after an uprising and has since lived in India. Since the 1980s, both sides have been holding tentative talks but have been unable to agree on the terms for running Tibet.

Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged China to exercise restraint. "There's been a kind of missed opportunity for the Chinese to engage the Dalai Lama," she was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. She said the spiritual leader isn't a separatist and could "lend his moral weight" to reaching a more stable arrangement in Tibet, according to the AP.

Mr. Liu said a decision to bar foreign journalists from Lhasa was made by the local government in the Tibet Autonomous Region to ensure the safety of the press.

All Eyes on Lhasa

Tibetan exile groups said yesterday that Chinese authorities had begun detaining large numbers of Tibetans. A Tibetan man in Lhasa interviewed by phone said hundreds of young Tibetans, most of them in their 20s, were detained by police overnight. "Everyone is considered a suspect," said the man. Police in Lhasa couldn't be reached for comment.

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